Robert Rowland Smith on Tying the Knot

"Indeed recognizing that with death the relationship must end gives marriage much of its human pathos. The vows say 'I'll love you for as long as I possibly can. I can't love you after I'm dead, because I'll be dead.' Marriage begins from death, as it were, and work backward to fill the intervening period with love."
--Robert Rowland Smith on "Tying the Knot"